September 30, 2012

Lemon And Blueberry Loaf

Yes you read that right. Lemon? Yes! Blueberry? Yes! Chocolate? No! I thought I would take a break from chocolate in my baking this week...I did eat a whole chocolate bar yesterday...oh dear. I'm poorly, don't judge me, I had to to feel better. Ahem...right?One of my favourite loafs is a lemon drizzle - expect for banana loaf but that's just due to my weird excessive love for bananas. And my favourite muffins are blueberry muffins - 2nd to banana muffins of course, duh.So when I saw this recipe on Pinterest for a lemon and blueberry loaf I thought nom nom nom nom. Literally.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the yogurt, sugar, eggs, lemon zest, vanilla and oil. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix the blueberries with the remaining tablespoon of flour, and fold them very gently into the batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake 50 to 55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Let cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing loaf to a wire rack on top of a baking sheet.

While the loaf is cooling, make the lemon syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir together the lemon juice and sugar until the sugar is completely dissolved. Once dissolved, continue to cook for 3 more minutes. Remove from the heat; set aside.

Use a toothpick to poke holes in the tops and sides of the warm loaf. Brush the top and sides of the loaf with the lemon syrup. Let the syrup soak into the cake and brush again. Let the cake cool completely.

I was very nervous past this point as I have never made a glaze before and the loaf looked so pretty and yummy already. But I thought what the hell, let's do it! So:

To make the lemon glaze, in a small bowl, whisk together the confectioners’ sugar and 2-3 tablespoons of the lemon juice. The mixture should be thick but pourable. Add up to another tablespoon of lemon juice if the mixture is too stiff. Pour the lemon glaze over the top of the loaf and let it drip down the sides. Let the lemon glaze harden, about 15 minutes, before serving.

I didn't do so well with the whole pouring of the glaze properly so the loaf went from looking super delish, to looking...well, not so pretty!

As with most loafs you could of course bake it in different shape tins, make it mini muffin-like or super large. Just remember to adjust the baking time!

So although it didn't look like the prettiest cake in the end, my oh my did it taste amazing! Super fresh and a little zingy and incredibly moist. Just fabulous.